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News - Archive 2007

Selected graduate students from 22 Middle Eastern countries will receive full support to pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Policy (MPP) under a new agreement between Duke University’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation.

Bruce Jentleson, a professor at Duke University's Sanford Institute of Public Policy, has been selected to serve in advisory capacity for a new Genocide Prevention Task Force chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen.

In a recent study, Professor of Public Policy Philip Cook and others find that strict government regulations on handgun ownership can curtail the underground market for handguns. The study is based in part on interviews with gang members, gun dealers, professional thieves, prostitutes, police, public school security guards, and teenagers from two South Side Chicago neighborhood.

Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Republican political strategist Karl Rove are scheduled to speak at Duke in coming weeks. On Nov. 27 at the Sanford Institute’s Fleishman Commons, Krugman will discuss his new book, Conscience of a Liberal, which calls for new policies to address the nation’s economic inequalities. [more]

The quality-of-life benefits of using hospice care at the end of life are well known, but up to now, analyses of how much money hospice saves compared to traditional end-of-life care have had mixed results. This study, by Assistant Professor of PPS Don Taylor and others, shows an average savings of $2,309 per Medicare hospice user, and concludes that increasing the length of time that hospice is used for terminal patients can result in even greater savings.

Decades of contentious political issues and colorful political players are on display at the Sanford Institute in an exhibit of nearly 100 editorial cartoons by award-winning cartoonist Kevin “KAL” Kallaugher. The exhibit, titled“Mightier Than the Sword: The Satirical Pen of KAL,” is located inthe Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy’s Rubenstein Hall. It opens Nov. 7 and will remain on display through the remainder of the academic year.

As a classically trained pianist, Yi Xiang likely could have attended one of the top music conservatories in the United States. However, Xiang, PPS ’09, instead chose to attend Duke. Watch a short video profile of Xiang discussing the benefits of Duke's liberal arts curriculum, his music and academic passions.

Jeff Stern, a 2007 Duke public policy graduate with a passion for investigative, frontline reporting, is posting dispatches and photos from Afghanistan as a correspondent for Esquire.com. Read his report onMassoud Day, a celebration in remembrance of “the Lion of Panjshir,” a national hero for driving the Soviets from Afghanistan.

Author and legal affairs analyst Jeffrey Toobin will speak at Duke University’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy on Oct. 11, 2007 about his latest book,The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.

Toobin will discuss the court with Duke Law School Dean David Levi. The 5:30 p.m. event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a book signing.

As one of six participants in “Be the Change”—a CNN International project to showcase “the power of social change through action”— Cassie Phillips, a 2007 public policy graduate, will maintain a regular record of her fellowship in Battambang, Cambodia, where she works with orphaned and vulnerable children at the nongovernmental organization Homeland.

In only his second year at the Sanford Institute, professor of practice of PPS Tom Taylor is making an impact among students with “Principles of Leadership,” a course that examines the skills, values and risks inherent in decision-making.

Finding out how American Muslims address messages of extremism in their communities will be the goal of a two-year study being launched by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. Center Director David Schanzer leads the study.

Researchers at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will use the information to recommend policies for reducing the likelihood that the United States experiences the type of homegrown terrorism seen recently in Europe.

Sarah Wallace, a Duke senior in Public Policy Studies, is spending her summer in Ukraine, involved in research pertaining to "the Ark" a new radiation containment system at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. Read her blog postings at http://chernobyl-summer.blogspot.com/

PPS senior Matt Yelovich, '07, analyzes how preemptive war became national policy, and why it may be a suitable U.S. strategy in the post-September 11th era. His article, "Beyond Iraq: Evaluating the Bush Doctrine and Its Implications," appears as the cover story in the Duke Journal of Public Affairs.

The U.S. military is increasingly focused on the national security threats posed by climate change, and video from a recent conference co-sponsored by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies and the U.S. Army War College is helping to move the national and international dialogue on these threats forward.

Christina Gibson-Davis, assistant professor of public policy and psychology, was named a W.T. Grant Scholar, while Associate Professor of Public Policy Studies and History Robert Korstad was awarded a Bass Chair.

For the third year in a row, papers by Sanford Master of Public Policy Students are among the 10 selected for publication in the Journal of Public and International Affairs. The journal is jointly published by Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Association of Professional Schools of Public Affairs.

(Durham, NC) Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, will deliver a public lecture, “Will American Superpower Have a Second Chance?” at Duke University on Thursday, March 29.

The lecture begins at 3:30 pm at the Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy and is free and open to the public.

An analysis of student behavior and performance on end-of-grade exams suggests that sixth graders with older students in middle school has lasting negative effects [News release] [Research report (PDF)]

In a new book, Professor of Public Policy Joel Fleishman argues that although foundations play a vital role in the country's civic life, they must act quickly to mend their arrogant and secretive ways or risk increased public skepticism and government regulation.

Speaking to a capacity crowd at the Sanford Institute for Public Policy on Jan. 29, Gen. Anthony Zinni, USMC (Ret.), gave a sharply critical analysis of both the war in Iraq and the current administration's Middle East policy as a whole.